Vertical-lift airplane



Dec. 2, 1930.

w. WINDSOR VERT ICAL LIFT AIRPLANE Filed Feb. 25, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVE NTOR 1 Geo. I4 Windsor B .mw

TTORNEY D56. 1930- G. w. WINDSOR I 1,783,458

VERTICAL LIFT AIRPLANE Filed Feb.. 25, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 17, 20 53 k Fl [TH l 41 39 I 30 V v 1 l t I I 4 8 -7 INVENTOR GeoJ l fwindsor Dec. 2, :3, w, -350R I 1,783,458

I VERTICAL LIFT AIRPLANE Filed Feb. 25,-1929 4 Sheets-Sheet s v o o INVENTOR Geo. I4. Windsor Dec. 2, 1930. I G. W. WINDSOR VERTICAL LIFT AIRPLANE Filed Feb. 25, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 mvgufon v GeoJ V- mndsflr @wluAxz.

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A'ITORNEY Patented Dec. 2, 1930' umrao STATES- PATENT o r-lca oaoiwr: w. wnmsoa, or sacaammrro, cnnromna, ASSIGNOIB, or ONE-THIRD 'ro .nnnnn'r E. eanim, or sacanmnnro', cauromua v vEa'rIcnL-Lm'r Ar m Application filed February 25, 1929. Serial K0. 342,581.

This invention relates to airplanes, my principal object being to provide an airplane with an arrangement of propellers so placed that the plane may lift straight from the p ground without having 'to make a long run into the wind as'is now the case. Conversely the plane may descend straight down instead of having to glide or come at a gradual angle. This feature also enables the plane to remain m practically stationary in the air without having to continually advance in order to keep from falling, as is at present the case. At the same time the lifting propellers are so placed as to ofler no resistance to the forward travel of the machine. l s

. A further object of the invention is to provide means for operating thelifting proplelg lers so that their eiliciency may be varied, t us enabling these propellers to function to keep the plane on a level keel or properly banked as may be desired.

"Still another objectis to mount the wing ropellers so that they may be turned from ifting to forwardpropelling positions at the .0 tion of the ilot, soasto aid in driving the g ane forwar when it has been raised to the esired elevation, and a flying speed has .been attained.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar-characters of ref erence indicate corresponding parts in the several views: l

Figs. 1 and 2 are fanciful perspective views ofa monoplan'e in flight, equipped with my;

special .rep'ellcr arrangement and showing the propellers in lifting and forward pro pelling positions respectively.

Fig. 3. is a fragmentary longitudinal section of a mono'piane showing the driving mechanism of the different propellers, somee what diagrammatically. L i 46 Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a' wing mounted propeller in its orward propelling position' and rti y in section.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse view of the wing propeller control mechanism.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged-longitudinal fragmentary view of said mechanism showing the F control structure for the rear or fuselage lifting propeller. T

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary cross section on the line 7 -7 of Fig. 6. Y c

Fig. 8- is a fragmentary plan section of a hand-actuated control mechanism taken on the line 88 of Fig. '5.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary enlarged plan sec. ilajlori1 ofa wing propeller having adjustable a es.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary section on the line 10-10 of Fig. 9.

Referring nowfmore particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, and

particularly at present to Figs. 1 to 8, 1 denotes the fuselage of a monoplane having the usual single wing. 2 extending across the top of the same. Relatively large circular openings 3 are out through the wing at e ual distances to the side of said fusela e an a similar o'penin 41s cut through t e fuselage a predetermined distance rearwardly of the.

wing. Propellers 5 are mounted in the openings 3 and a propeller 6 in theopening 4. The propeller 6 is preferably mounted so as to be ermanently disposed in a horizontal plane etween the top and bottom surfaces of the fuselage, but the propellers 5 are mounted so as to be either in horizontal planes between the top and bottom surfaces of the wing or disposed in a vertical plane so as to project both above and below the win This special mountin of the wing propel ers willnow be describe and since each mountin is into consideration in this escription. Each propeller is mounted in a'yoke-like frame 7-whose sides are substantiall arallel to the longitudinal plane of the a es and are disposed in a transverse plane relative to I the fuselage or longitudinally of the wing. At its ends this frame is turnable in bearings 8 secured to the wing frames 9 in any suitable manner. The axis of rotation of the frame is a duplicate of the other onl one will beta en 1 the same as that ofthe drive shaft 10 of the .1

ropellerwhieh projects throu h said frame rom the end nearest to the fuse age to a bevel gear 11, which meshes with a similar gear12 mounted in connection with the. propeller axially thereof. It will therefore be seen tion without interfering with the driving of the propeller. The frame may be thus swung or held at any position by suitable means such as sprocket wheels 13 fixed on the frame 7 at its ends and concentric with its axis and connected by chains 14 to similar sprockets mounted on a horizontal shaft 15 extending along the wing beyond the opening 3. This shaft extends to an operating mechanism 16 of suitable type disposed in the fuselage in a position convenient to the pilot.

The speed and consequently the efliciency of the propellers in either position is controlled as follows:

The shafts 10 of the two propellers project into the fuselage and terminate in splined portions 10a on which friction discs 17 are slidablef These discs engage a friction drive disc 18 mounted in a supporting structure 19, and which is driven, through the medium of bevel gearing 20 and other driving elements indicated conventionally at 20a,from the usual engine 21 of the airplane. This engine also drives the main driving propeller 22 positioned as usual in the nose of the machine.

A clutch 23 is disposed between the propeller 22 and the engine and is controlled by a hand lever 24 or the like convenient to the pilot. A similar clutch 25 likewise controlled y a lever 26 is disposed between the engine and the disc driving mechanism. Either the front propeller or the other propellers may be cut out as may be desired or they may be all operated simultaneously, according to the conditions under which the airplane is being operated. I

The discs 17 of the side propellers are dis posed in opposed relation to each other and engage the disc 18 in common, as shown in Fig. 5. They are controlled so as to be shifted. to or from the center of the driving disc re-' spectively, or both moved toward or from the center of said disc at the same time, at the option of the pilot, by the following means:

Mounted in connection with the discs 17 are shifting forks 27 which at their outer ends are rigidly connected to separate sleeves 28 which are slidable in bearings 29 formed on the supportingstructure 19 and parallel to the shafts 10. A vertical control lever 30 disposed between said sleeves is mounted at one end for universal swinging movement in a fixed support 31, and intermediate its ends has ,slidable but non-turnable engagement with a horizontal disc or similar member 32. This disc in turn is slidable longitudinally of the airplane in a guide yoke 33 which extends horizontally at right angles 'to the sleeves, and is slidably supported therefrom by side trunnions or rods34 thereon which have sliding but non-turning engagement with the adjacent ends of ,the sleeves 28. Links 35 or similar connection membersextend from the disc 32 in diametrally opposed positions thereon to the adjacent ends of the sleeves. By means of this arrangement it will be seen that if the lever is shifted transversely of the airplane while being held from turning, the sleeves will be moved in a common direction, o r so that one disc 17 will move away from the center of the driving disc while the other will move closer.

As a result of this operation one propeller may be speeded up while the other is slowed down. This in turn causes the fastest propcller to exerta greater efficiency than the other, resulting in a greater lifting effect hing imparted to the wing on one side than on the other and taking the place of the usual ailerons, as will be evident.

If, however, the lever is held against swinging but is rotated so as to rotate the disc 32. the sleeves 28 will move in opposite directions relative to each other and both discs 17 will be moved towardor away from the center of the driving disc. The speed of both propellers will then both be increased or reduced simultaneously without altering the speed of the engine.

The same lever is utilized to alter the speed of the back or fuselage propeller as follows:

The driving shaft 36 of the rear propeller (corresponding to the shafts 10) has a friction disc 37 splined on its forward end which engages the driving disc 18 rearwardly of and at right angles to the discs 17. The shifting fork 38 applied to this disc is rigidly connected to a rod 39 which is parallel to the shaft 36 and is slidably mounted in a bearing 40 on the supporting structure 19 (see Fig. 6). The forward end of this rod has a slotted yoke 41 through which the lever 30 slidably passes, the major axis of the yoke slot extending in a direction at right angles to the rod 39 or to the major axis of the yoke 33. The slotted guides 33 and 41 being relatively opposed to each other enables'the lever to be swung to shift the side discs without affecting the rear disc or vice versa; or both sets of discs may be shifted simultaneously by swinging the lever diag: onally.

The shaft 36 at its end adjacent the disc 37 is preferably mounted in bearings 42 which are fixed in a sleeve 43 Whose outer surface is eccentric relative to the shaft and is turnable in a bearing 44 provided with the structure 19. The sleeve 43 is provided with a radial operating arm 45, and it will be seen thatby rotating the sleeve one way or the other the shaft 36 will be raised or lowercd and the disc 37 accordingly engaged with or disengaged from the driving disc 18. The vertical movement of the shaft to disengage the disc is so slight thatit would not unduly strain the shaft even if the oppositedriving disc is splined on its axial driven' shaft 46 and is yieldably pressed against. the driven discs by a spring 47 disposed between the structure 19 and said disc 18.

Referring now to Figs. 9 and 10 the same result as to the efficiency of thepropellers may be obtained by making the lifting propellers with adjustable blades instead. of by altering their speed. In this case the friction disc drive arrangement may be maintained if desired, but it may also be eliminated and a simpler constant-speed driving connection between the engine and each propeller may be used, as may be obvious.

In this construction the propeller supporting frame 7a is turnably mounted in the wing opening as before. The bevel gear 48 on the end of the drive shaft meshes with a gear 49 which is rigid with a hollow hub 50 from which the propellerblades 51 project outwardly. The blades at their hub ends are provided with spindles 52 extending lengthwise ofthe blades and turnably mounted in the hub, so'that on turning the spindlesthe pitch of the blades may be altered so that the efiiciency thereof may be decreased from a predetermined maximum to zero. The spindles may be thus turned without affecting the swingin of the frame 7a on itsltrunnions by suita )le means such as follows:

A hollow shaft 53 rigid with the gear 49 projects through the hub and has a slide block 54 disposed thereabout inside the hub. Links 55 are connected at one end toand project from the block parallel to the shaft and are connected at the other end to radial and oppositely disposed arms 56 which are connected to. the adjacent ends of the spindle 52. Sliding of the block 54 lengthwise of the shaft will therefore cause the blades to be turned in opposite directions, and since the pitch of the blades is of course opposite to each other such movement will cau'sethe pitch of both blades to be altered simultaneously and to the same extent.

'To thus manipulate said block a stem 57 is slidable through the shaft and is connected at one end to said block. At its other end In order to maintain the the stem projects clear of the shaft and past the axial line of the gear 48 and frame 7a and is connected to a shifting fork preferably in the formof a bellcrank 58 pivoted on the frame 7 a. One arm of this bellcrank engages the stem without interfering with its turning while the other arm terminates in the plane of the ,axial line of the frame 7a. From this arm" a rod 59 projects axially through'the' frame 70. to one endof the same where it is connected with a shifting mechanism 60 arranged to shift said rod length- WISC- From the shifting mechanisms of both wing propellers connections would extendv to a suitable control mechanism at the fuselage, which, as will be obvious, maybe substantially the same as that employed in ,connection with the shifting of the slide discs as described in connection with the first type of apparatus. The adjustable blade, arrangement, as will be obvious, enables the efiiciency of the propellers to be altered, the same as by altering their speed and the same results in the control of the mechanism may be obtained.

If, in addition, the sliding disc type of drive is maintained an extremely eflicient control of the machine as a whole may be obtained, as'will be evident.

It is to be understood that ball or similar antifricton bearings of suitable character for thepurpose are preferably used for all the constantly driven shafts.

Since of course the particular shape and construction of various frames, housings and other parts may be varied considerably according to individual conditions and the desi-tgners preference, no detailed description 0 such parts has here been given.

It may also be noted that when arranging that case would be inverted from what has here been shown, since it'would naturally be near the floor 'of the fuselage ratherthan adiacent' the ceiling. From the foregoin description it will be readily seen that I ave produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

'WVhile this specification sets forth in dethe structure in a biplane the liftingpropellers would be placed in the lower wing. 1 Consequently the driving disc mechanism inf tail the present and preferred construction 'of-thedevice, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resortedto as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to se-- cure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an airplane, having openings through a wing thereof to the sides of the fuselage, and a similar opening throughthe fuselage rearwardly of said wing; propellers mounted within said openings on vertical axes, a common drive means for all said propellers, and a common means for altering the effectiveness of side propellers relative to the rear propeller independently or simultaneously, selectively, without altering the speed of the drive means.

2. In an airplane, having openings through a wing thereof to the sides of the fuselage, and a similar opening through the fuselage rearwardly of said wing; propellers mounted within said openings on normally vertical axes, and means for shifting the wing propellers to a horizontal axial position without interfering with the operation thereof and means for rendering the rear fuselage propeller inactive when the wing propellers are thus disposed.

3. In an airplane, pro ellers mounted in connection with a wing 0 the airplane to the sides of the fuselage, and another propeller mounted in connection with the fuselage rearwardly of the Wing, a common drive means for all said propellers, and means including a single lever for enabling the effectiveness of the side propellers relative to the rear propeller to be independently or simultaneously altered selectively.

4. In an airplane having a circular opening through a wing to one side of the fuselage, a frame extending across the opening transversely of the airplane and pivoted at its ends in connection with the wing, a propeller mounted in the frame on an axis at right angles to the pivotal axis of said frame, drive means for the propeller including a shaft extendingpartially through the frame axially 0f the pivotal connection thereof, and means for turning the frame about its axis.

5. In an airplane, a friction drive disc, a propeller, a shaft extending from said propeller at right angles to the axis of sait disc, a driven friction disc slidably key-ed on the shaft and normally engaging the drive disc, means for sliding said driven disc, and independent means for moving said disc right angles to the surface of the drive disc to disengage the driven disc from the driving disc.

6. In an airplane, a friction drive disc, 2 pair of propellers'mounted in connection with a wing of the airplane, drive means for said propellers including opposed separate and longitudinally alined shafts projecting toward the disc at right angles to the axis thereof, driven friction discs slidably keyed onto said shafts and engaging drive disc, and means for sliding said driv disc radially of the drive disc either DOSl-A) directions or in the same direction st. ecti'vely.

7. In an airplane, a friction drive disc, a pair of propellers mounted in connection with a wing of the airplane, drive means for said propellers including opposed separate and longitudinally alined shafts projecting to ward the disc at right angles to the axis thereof, driven friction discs slidably keyed onto said shafts and engaging said drive disc, shifting forks applied to said driven discs, longitudinally alined sleeves, parallel to said shafts, to which the forks are rigidly connected, bearings in which said sleeves are slidably supported, a control lever disposed between the sleeves and substantially at right angles thereto, means for supporting one end of the lever to enable the same to rotate or to swing toward one sleeve or the other, and means between the lever and sleeves for causing the latter to be moved in opposite directions longitudinally when the lever is rotated, and to be moved in a common direction longitudinally when the lever is swung toward one sleeve or the other.

8. A structure as in claim 2, in which said independent means comprises circular hearing means in which the shaft is turnably and eccentrically mounted, fixed journal means in which said circular bearing means are turnably mounted, and means applied to the circular bearing means for rotating the same in its ournal.

In testimony whereof I affix my si nature.

' GEORGE W. winifson. 

